MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga. -- Its ability to provide logistics capability solutions for Marine Corps’ warfighters merited a Marine Corps Logistics Command team the 2010 Defense Logistics Best Technology Implementation award, during the 7th Annual Defense Logistics Conference Awards Ceremony Dec. 1 in Arlington, Va.
Maj. Gen. James A. Kessler, commanding general, Logistics Command, and other members accepted the prestigious Department of Defense award for the team’s Secondary Reparables (SECREP) Total
Allowance Recomputation Tool (START) project.
Bradley P. Pangle, manager, Supply Integration Division, Supply Management Center, Logistics Command, described winning the award at the Defense Department level as validating the Logistics Command team’s efforts.
“The Defense Logistics folks recognized this as a critical improvement — a step forward,” he said. “To be compared against the entire Department of Defense for logistics technology implementation and to come out a winner is significant.”
The Marine Corps has reparable issue points located at every major Marine Corps installation to provide component support to Marine Corps ground equipment, he said. Reparable secondary items that are needed in the future are stocked at the locations, like engines and transmissions, to maintain the Corps’ ground equipment inventory, such as trucks, tanks and Light Armored Vehicles, according to Pangle.
“START helps our logisticians determine how many of the secondary items should be stocked for future use,” he said. “Thanks to Mr. Jeff Milazzo, supervisor, Supply Management Center, and Mr. Marcus Preasha, senior logistics specialist, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, who made START possible.”
START is considered a logistics decision support tool, and through it, an antiquated and costly process for maintaining ground equipment readiness was restructured and automated under the Marine Corps’
Lifecycle Modeling Initiative program, Pangle said. The LCMI program has produced decision support tools to manage the lifecycle and supply chains of the Marine Corps’ inventory.
Because of the information technology overhaul, time and money have been saved for the Marine Corps; and Marines, civilian-Marines and contractors are able to confidently forecast SECREP requirements to fully support the warfighters, he added.
Supply Management and Logistics Capability centers of Logistics Command as well as Concurrent Technologies Corporation, an independent nonprofit organization, that supports the LCMI program, created and implemented the initiative, Pangle noted. Logistics Command’s Program and Resources Department funded the project.
“The project blends effectiveness with efficiency,” he said. “We’ve become more effective and more efficient. There are key areas to the success of this program — Logistics Command’s relationship with the warfighter through the Coordinated SECREP Management program and the Logistics Command’s ability to create decision support tools through the LCMI program.”
Patton E. Jones, branch head, Retail Secondary Items Branch, Supply Integration Division, said he was very proud of his team.
“Winning this award is confirmation that teamwork and dedication results in improved support to the warfighter, and we are on the right track in improving Marine Corps logistics support,” Jones said. “This success has paved the way to improve other areas of our Marine Corps supply chain."
Civilian and contractor support staff have worked hand in hand to ensure the Logistics Command provides capabilities like START, which significantly reduces the manually-intensive data analysis requirements that have burdened the warfighters, according to Tami Routhier, LCMI Program Manager, Logistics Capabilities Center.
“The LCMI program provides a comprehensive ability to improve workflow processes, analyze materiel readiness data, conduct trend analyses, facilitate decision making, forecast requirements and manage readiness with greater ease and efficiency through the development of seven decision support tools, which have won recognition throughout the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy and in the information technology industry," she said.
Philip L. Pauley, senior director, Logistics Programs, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, said his company "is pleased to support the Logistics Command’s initiatives and to contribute to the development of tools critical in resolving logistics problems in the Marine Corps supply chain. CTC congratulates the Logistics Command on the recent 2010 DoD Best Technology Implementation award."